JCUA is building a team in Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Northbrook, and surrounding areas to bring a Jewish voice to important state-level immigration policies that their coalition partners in the Campaign for a Welcoming IL are working to pass this year. Our hope is to have a committed core team that will meet regularly with our state legislators (Julie Morrison, Bob Morgan, and Jonathan Carroll), both in-district and in Springfield, to work on getting our 2019 legislative platform passed. This team will also coordinate efforts to bring in the broader Jewish community’s support when strategic, through postcard campaigns, phone banks, and other actions.

On March 10th, at Steve Keen’s home in Highland Park, we’ll be meeting as a team with Rep. Bob Morgan to talk about the district and the community we want to build there, as well as about our 2019 bills. We will then take what we learn in that meeting to begin to draft an arc of actions from March – May for this North Suburban Organizing Team. Join us! You can RSVP here (address sent upon RSVP), and reach out to Anna Rubin (anna@jcua.org) with any questions.

At this gathering we will continue to build relationships across congregations, dig into some questions that have been coming up for several of our partners (like: how do you track and keep volunteers and participants engaged long term??), and share best practices around recent and upcoming congregation justice events, with an eye towards Passover programming. Join us!

We are excited to celebrate this topsy-turvy holiday of joy and darkness with you all. You can sign up for a potluck item here and RSVP for the event here.

We are also encouraging folks to bring friends or community members to this meeting who you think might be interested in JCUA’s work. We hope it will be an opportunity for new people to meet the JCUA community.

The meeting will be from 6:15 until 8:00 PM at SketchPad (4700 N. Ravenswood Ave, Suite B – door on Leland). There will be an orientation for first time attendees at 6:00 PM.

Please note that JCore meetings are for JCUA members. Sign up for membership at jcua.org/membership

Join Avodah, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Mishkan Chicago, Repair the World and Silverstein Base Hillel for our third annual Chicago Justice series. This year we will focus on themes of safety and security through a Jewish lens: examining our relationships as Jews to law enforcement historically and today, exploring local work on police accountability, and thinking about how various identities we hold may impact how we think about our own safety.

Register below for the series, which costs $25 a person and includes dinners at all sessions. If cost is a barrier to participation we are happy to work with you – we want this space to be accessible to everyone. Email Rabbi Megan (rabbimegan@gmail.com) and we will make it work!

What do safety and security look like to each of us? What could it look like? In the opening session of the cohort we will begin by situating ourselves in what makes us feel safe, how our intersecting identities impact that and in how we want to build Jewish community as a cohort addressing safety and security. We will engage with and reflect on sources from historians, thinkers and leaders that bring up different frameworks for understanding community safety and accountability.

Thursday March 28, 6:30-8:30

What does Judaism teach us about safety? In this session we will bring in Jewish texts of different kinds to examine what our own traditions, values and practices tell us about the creation of safety, the role of police and other accountability systems. We will reflect upon what these mean for us now and how we want to continue unpacking meanings of safety through a Jewish lens.

Tuesday April 23, 6:30-8:30

How do systems of policing and security impact those within them?In our third session we will develop an analysis of policing and safety that understands the systemic impact police have on society as well as the experiences of those who operate within the police system. We will engage with resources and text that illuminate how a system like the Chicago Police Department functions and how those working within it understand their role in building community safety.

Thursday May 9, 6:30-8:30

Where do we go from here? Before our closing Shabbat on May 31st, this final session will provide space to think about how we bring what we have learned in this series to our daily lives. What this looks like will depend on the flow of the conversation thus far in the series. We will learn about ongoing campaign work around police accountability including ways to get involved and take action. There will also be space to brainstorm together about community safety planning in Jewish spaces, and other opportunities to continue unpacking issues around safety and security.

Join us on Tuesday, April 16th at 6:30 pm, location TBD, for our ~monthly Immigration Committee meeting. If you are new to the committee, or want a refresher, there will be a brief orientation at 6:00 pm. We look forward to seeing you there! You can RSVP Here.

Join Avodah, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Mishkan Chicago, Repair the World and Silverstein Base Hillel for our third annual Chicago Justice series. This year we will focus on themes of safety and security through a Jewish lens: examining our relationships as Jews to law enforcement historically and today, exploring local work on police accountability, and thinking about how various identities we hold may impact how we think about our own safety.

Register below for the series, which costs $25 a person and includes dinners at all sessions. If cost is a barrier to participation we are happy to work with you – we want this space to be accessible to everyone. Email Rabbi Megan (rabbimegan@gmail.com) and we will make it work!

What do safety and security look like to each of us? What could it look like? In the opening session of the cohort we will begin by situating ourselves in what makes us feel safe, how our intersecting identities impact that and in how we want to build Jewish community as a cohort addressing safety and security. We will engage with and reflect on sources from historians, thinkers and leaders that bring up different frameworks for understanding community safety and accountability.

Thursday March 28, 6:30-8:30

What does Judaism teach us about safety? In this session we will bring in Jewish texts of different kinds to examine what our own traditions, values and practices tell us about the creation of safety, the role of police and other accountability systems. We will reflect upon what these mean for us now and how we want to continue unpacking meanings of safety through a Jewish lens.

Tuesday April 23, 6:30-8:30

How do systems of policing and security impact those within them?In our third session we will develop an analysis of policing and safety that understands the systemic impact police have on society as well as the experiences of those who operate within the police system. We will engage with resources and text that illuminate how a system like the Chicago Police Department functions and how those working within it understand their role in building community safety.

Thursday May 9, 6:30-8:30

Where do we go from here? Before our closing Shabbat on May 31st, this final session will provide space to think about how we bring what we have learned in this series to our daily lives. What this looks like will depend on the flow of the conversation thus far in the series. We will learn about ongoing campaign work around police accountability including ways to get involved and take action. There will also be space to brainstorm together about community safety planning in Jewish spaces, and other opportunities to continue unpacking issues around safety and security.

Don’t forget to RSVP for our Passover screening of “Not in MyNeighbourhood.” This award-winning documentary tells the intergenerational stories of ordinary citizens responding to the policies, process, and institutions driving contemporary forms of spatial violence and gentrification in Cape Town, New York, and São Paulo. We are also excited to announce we will be joined by Co-Producer Najma Nuriddin for a discussion following the screening.

On Passover we move out of a narrow place of struggle towards a vision for a better world. Join us as we come together to connect our struggles globally and talk about how we can fight for a city, and a world, in which all are free.

Please join us for our next JCore general membership meeting. The meeting will be from 6:15 until 8:00 PM at SketchPad (4700 N. Ravenswood Ave, Suite B – door on Leland). There will be an orientation for first time attendees at 6:00 PM. RSVP here.

Please note that JCore meetings are for JCUA members. Sign up for membership at jcua.org/membership

Join Avodah, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Mishkan Chicago, Repair the World and Silverstein Base Hillel for our third annual Chicago Justice series. This year we will focus on themes of safety and security through a Jewish lens: examining our relationships as Jews to law enforcement historically and today, exploring local work on police accountability, and thinking about how various identities we hold may impact how we think about our own safety.

Register below for the series, which costs $25 a person and includes dinners at all sessions. If cost is a barrier to participation we are happy to work with you – we want this space to be accessible to everyone. Email Rabbi Megan (rabbimegan@gmail.com) and we will make it work!

What do safety and security look like to each of us? What could it look like? In the opening session of the cohort we will begin by situating ourselves in what makes us feel safe, how our intersecting identities impact that and in how we want to build Jewish community as a cohort addressing safety and security. We will engage with and reflect on sources from historians, thinkers and leaders that bring up different frameworks for understanding community safety and accountability.

Thursday March 28, 6:30-8:30

What does Judaism teach us about safety? In this session we will bring in Jewish texts of different kinds to examine what our own traditions, values and practices tell us about the creation of safety, the role of police and other accountability systems. We will reflect upon what these mean for us now and how we want to continue unpacking meanings of safety through a Jewish lens.

Tuesday April 23, 6:30-8:30

How do systems of policing and security impact those within them?In our third session we will develop an analysis of policing and safety that understands the systemic impact police have on society as well as the experiences of those who operate within the police system. We will engage with resources and text that illuminate how a system like the Chicago Police Department functions and how those working within it understand their role in building community safety.

Thursday May 9, 6:30-8:30

Where do we go from here? Before our closing Shabbat on May 31st, this final session will provide space to think about how we bring what we have learned in this series to our daily lives. What this looks like will depend on the flow of the conversation thus far in the series. We will learn about ongoing campaign work around police accountability including ways to get involved and take action. There will also be space to brainstorm together about community safety planning in Jewish spaces, and other opportunities to continue unpacking issues around safety and security.

Are you a Jewish south sider who cares about justice issues? Join us for a South Side Base Building Potluck Shabbat on Friday, May 24, 2019! The dinner will be at Moishe House, 5203 S. Dorchester Ave., from 6:00-9:00pm. While sharing Shabbat together, we’ll have a guided conversation about how our South Side connections and identities inform the issues and concerns we have as Jews. This will be a chance to get to know each other and learn what the social justice issues are that matter most to us, our friends, and our neighbors specifically as South Siders. Come ready to learn and share!

Please RSVP by Wednesday, May 22, if you are able to join us on May 24. Additionally, please make sure that the food item you plan to bring is vegan to respect everyone’s kosher needs. Finally, an accessibility note: the venue has stairs to get to the entrance. Email estherbowen@jcua.org with questions.

Join Avodah, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Mishkan Chicago, Repair the World and Silverstein Base Hillel for our third annual Chicago Justice series. This year we will focus on themes of safety and security through a Jewish lens: examining our relationships as Jews to law enforcement historically and today, exploring local work on police accountability, and thinking about how various identities we hold may impact how we think about our own safety.

Register below for the series, which costs $25 a person and includes dinners at all sessions. If cost is a barrier to participation we are happy to work with you – we want this space to be accessible to everyone. Email Rabbi Megan (rabbimegan@gmail.com) and we will make it work!